Introduction

Among the characteristics of good management are evidence of planning and ongoing evaluation of programs. Among the characteristics of a good plan, one usually finds an evaluative phase. No project, no matter how ingenious or innovative, will be granted support by a funding agency without a solid evaluation plan. Why is evaluation so strongly recommended and held in such high regard? Partially it is regarded as an insurance policy for the wise use of resources and as a mechanism for insuring that either wise decisions have been made or that, if they prove to be unwise, adjustments are identified and implemented. In the worst of cases, I suspect, evaluation is engaged in as part of some “neat and tidy syndrome.”